Patna, Sept. 6: Four persons were arrested today on charges of calling former Gopalganj MP Puranmasi Ram and demanding extortion money amounting to Rs 5 crore.

On Friday evening, Ram had lodged a FIR with the Patkhauli police outpost in West Champaran alleging that he had received a ransom call of Rs 5 crore. The caller had threatened to kill him if the amount was not paid, the leader said.

“I was getting a call from an unknown number (8578061885) and finally decided to answer it. The caller used expletives and asked me to shell out Rs 5 crore or be ready to face consequences. I informed the police about the call,” Ram said.

“Four persons have been arrested in connection with the ransom case. The mastermind, identified as Gorakh, had used the SIM card of one of his friends to make the call,” a police officer at the Patkhauli outpost said.

Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s directives to improve law and order notwithstanding, criminals continue to have a free run.

On August 29, Manjhi had asked district magistrates and superintendents of police to act tough and control the worsening situation of law and order.

Today, Manjhi went to West Champaran and reviewed security measures and the functioning of the Tirhut range administration comprising Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Sitamarhi, Sheohar and East and West Champaran.

The chief minister will visit all districts and divisional headquarters and hold similar meetings to review the law and order situation.

Things, however, are far from improving with Patna witnessing two murders and an attempted daylight abduction of a female in the past week. In the past week, two females, including an eight-year-old girl was killed. The girl had gone missing on August 28 and her body was recovered on September 1. She had been strangulated and her eyes gouged out. On the evening of September 1, a middle-aged woman was attacked at Kidwaipuri late in the evening and her throat was slit. On September 5, a group of boys tried to kidnap a schoolgirl in daylight.